Ministry of Civil Serviceon November 22last year [MT --this may be a misprint, Liberty Times the following day has published a copy of a letter dated Dec 22],sent a letter toretired civil servants,thisisto adjust theamount ofeighteen percentgifteddepositinterest rates,rise to "restore thetide ",rushingto the bankfilledgifteddepositinterest rateslyingeighthDepositamount.Ministry of Civil ServicePensionSecretaryLvming Taiyesterdaysaid that the pastsystem, "Mastofficer,thinofficials"last year,afteramending the lawmore equitablefor grassrootscivil servants, on the whole,the state treasuryan annual savingof aboutone hundred million yuanexpenditure.But the public'sapproval: "Catholicretirementhomeby theeighthlielieinteresttomanyworkersearningmore thanthan, this issort of a kipfair?"

What is says is that on Nov 22 of last year the Civil Service Board sent around a letter to all retirees on gov't retirement getting the 18% interest, telling them that the 18% interest that retirees receive as a result of an administrative decision made forty years ago will be adjusted upward for a great many of them. During the Chen Administration many of these benefits had been rescinded, which is one reason the bureaucracy hated the Chen Administration so much. As the article notes further down, of the 60,000 retired civil servants receiving the 18% interest, 15,000 higher ranking ones will receive a downward adjustment, while 45,000 will receive an upward adjustment. The net savings, claims the government, will be $100 million annually.

Some retirees received notification well in advance of the Nov 22 letter, getting notified in September. Note that the Nov 22 letter would have arrived the week of the election on Nov 27. The focus on the Sean Lien shooting is obscuring many other issues. [MT -- the letter Nov 22 date may be an Apple Daily error]

The 18% interest is one of the many payouts that are pushing the counties deeply into debt, since half of that interest is paid by the central bank and half by the local governments.

As one of the individuals quoted in the Apple Daily piece commented, "一定是選舉到了又在政策買票!" "As the election nears the policy is to buy votes!". It's hard not to see this as vote buying -- the majority of the higher level retirees are KMT supporters and party members, since they entered the system in the days when only KMT members could rise in the bureaucracy. Meanwhile 45,000 lower level civil servants all get a boost of 3-4K from the gov't treasury, nearly 50K annually for many retirees.

Hard to see where all the money for the new municipalities and other commitments of the Ma government is going to come from...._______________________[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.

I have a relative who's a retired civil servant, though green to the bone. When his interest income was slashed he was very stoical about it... understood very well that 18% was unrealistic and unreasonable. No complaints from him at all.I doubt the majority would feel that way however... most I meet have a real sense of entitlement and make no secret of having joined up for the easy life in the office and the fat pension afterwards.

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